News, notes, and anecdotes on the Fort Wayne TinCaps

…And the Law Won

Happy Friday!

This is the time of the year when a lot of the prospect rankings come out and I’ve already posted quite a bit about it. I found Keith Law’s top 100 on ESPN.com. You have to have an ESPN Insider account to read the whole thing, but here are the highlights:

Law has Jaff Decker at No. 27, which is a heck of a jump from MLB.com’s No. 50. Law says Decker has the “Brian Giles body,” which I hadn’t heard before but is probably more fitting than the typical “Matt Stairs body.” More importantly, he says Decker’s excellent on-base percentage with power should make him a solid starter at a corner outfield spot in the major leagues, and if he develops more power than expected he could be “not far off from stardom” in the big leagues. That’s probably the most complimentary Decker review I’ve seen… Fair and complimentary. Well done, Keith Law.

Law also has Simon Castro at No. 46. I’d never really seen him in anybody’s top 50, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be. Law says Castro needs to refine his slider and improve his fastball command in the strike zone and he should be a solid No. 2 starter in an MLB rotation.

I like Law’s top 100… Not because he has two TinCaps in his top 50 and not because I passed him in the skywalk in Indianapolis at the Winter Meetings (a quasi-celebrity sighting if there ever was one). He used to work in the Toronto front office, he seems to have watched the majority of the players he’s ranking and while he has his own opinions, he gets help from other evaluators when he needs it.

If you’ve lost track, Baseball America finished releasing the Top 10 prospects for all 30 organizations. You can find them here. Their prospect handbook (which is required reading) should be out soon, if it isn’t already.

Now on to a discovery I’ve made in the past week. The potential exists that I could be traveling by air in the next few months (no details yet, but I’ll let you know). That being the case, I decided to educate myself on the things you are and are not allowed to bring onto a plane. All I really wanted to know was how big a tube of toothpaste you can bring in a carry-on bag (As Ace Ventura says, gingivitis is the No. 1 cause of all tooth decay), but the unintentional comedy of the TSA’s list was so good I had to share.

Let’s start with “sharp objects.” I don’t remember ever needing a sharp object on a plane. So you can imagine my surprise when meat cleavers, sabers and swords were on the “not OK for carry-on luggage” list. Have people really tried to bring any of those things on a plane? Can you imagine the conversation at the security checkpoint?

On to sporting goods… Bow and arrows, ski poles and spear guns… Not allowed to be carried onto a plane. Incredible. Guns and firearms was worth a read, but the real show is in the “martial arts / self-defense items” category.

Security guy: “Those are nunchakus and they’re not allowed.”Ninja: “No, these are nunchuks. I don’t know what a nunchaku is. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

Also, there are no explosives allowed on planes.

As someone who works in a place where large groups of people congregate, I understand that you have to spell out exactly what is and isn’t allowed. That becomes a lot tougher when it’s millions of people from all over the world who have different cultural norms. But it’s a sad day when you have to tell anyone other than an F-16 pilot that he’s not allowed to bring explosives on a plane.

Hopefully you learned as much about carry-on luggage as I did. Even though the only thing I can think of NEEDING to know is that only liquids in a 3.4-ounce container or smaller are allowed. Now you know… and knowing’s half the battle! (Do you have any idea how tough it is to find a GI Joe PSA that isn’t some idiot’s parody remake? I think that’s the only one on the entire internet!)

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